Gillian Devine

Vintage Book Review: “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells (1895)

“The Time Machine” (1895) was written at the latter end of the Victorian age, a time during which great scientific discoveries and leaps in progress were made. The concept of time travel was most likely fueled by the discovery of, and the advances of, electrical energy, which then would have prompted an imagining of unparalleled potential, if harnessed effectively – in this case, the potential to travel through time.

H.G. Wells was then, and is known today, as a keen science fiction author, having touched upon the subject of science fiction many times before. The Time Machine tells the tale of a keen scientist who claims, to a room full of scarcely-believing friends, that he has just returned from a journey into the distant future, where many erstwhile unbelievable things he has experienced and seen, w ho then begins to recount his adventure.

Told from a third-person perspective, the narrator is relaying the time traveler’s tale, who jump started his time machine to embark upon a distinctly uncomfortable, but incredible, journey through the fabric of space and time, to end up in the year 802, 701 AD, a time when the the “society” of Earth has become virtually unrecognizable.

The first “people” he encounters are the “Eloi”, a race of barely-human people who have evolved over time to become impossibly ethereal and delicate, both physically and mentally, the implication being that they signify the “elite” society of the contemporary age, who have evolved to a point where intellect and strong feeling are no longer conducive to their surviving. The time traveler soon forges a bond with a female Eloi called Weena, a relationship which is hinted as being potentially romantic, but the “woman” is far too childlike and simple for this to legitimately be the case.

He observes the Eloi, and their way of life, with a relatively dispassionate, but intellectually keen, narrative voice. However before long his time machine is mysteriously stolen by a dark and primitive underground-dwelling race called the Morlocks, who abhor sunlight and have evolved from the working class of the contemporary age to become what they now are. Worse, it turns out that every so often, they emerge during the night to feed on the Eloi, who in turn live in fear of them constantly.

This could be construed quite easily as the reverse of the upper class looking down upon, and suppressing, the working class, whom they deem to be inferior and exist only to serve the elite. The sheer extent of the division between the two races of people has resulted in both evolving to become extreme examples of “predator” and “prey”, in a brutal and inevitable “return to nature”.

After one night raid, in which the forest catches fire, engulfing Weena along with many of the Eloi (as is the implication), the time traveler casts himself into his time machine, just in time, to propel himself even further into the future, almost to the “end of time”, when the Sun is dying and on Earth there is a permanent sunset/sunrise, and there is virtually no trace of recognizable life.

There is a strong influence of a “Dying Earth Subgenre”, in which the ultimate end of the world, and of civilization, would inevitably form in the minds of the more imaginative and forward-thinking people of the age. Most remarkable here is the prompting of a mental projection into a future in which civilization, and society, disappear completely, and where humanity has left little to no trace.

After marveling at the unique glimpse of the future granted to him alone, the time traveler eventually manages to return to the late nineteenth century from where he came, just a few hours before his initial departure, and in good time to tell his friends of his adventure, once more.

Perhaps it is in the very fact that the entire tale is told as a “tale within a tale”, by a listener to the time traveler’s story, which shows that his tale is not doubted at all by at least one person, so fully and intricately has he related the experience. Given that time travel is still an endeavor which humanity is striving towards in the present day, and may still remain within the realms of “science fiction”, “The Time Machine” still manages to retain the same sense of speculative possibility today – over a century into the future – as it did at the time of writing.

Bullfighting Awarded Cultural Status Despite Opposition

Bullfighting may be one of the last bloodsports to disappear completely, due to a legislation which has awarded it with a special status in Spanish culture.

According to the Guardian, the bill – which was passed with twenty-four votes to six – solidifies the status of bullfighting as “part of the cultural heritage worthy of protection throughout the national territory”, despite strong and vocal opposition from every direction. However, almost all of the amendments put forward by these opponents were rejected by the right-wing People’s Party.

Although conjuring up a stereotypical image of Spanish culture, there has been a gradual decline in the popularity of bullfighting, due to ongoing pressure from animal rights groups and campaigns which demand greater recognition of and support for animal welfare; in short, to stop citing entertainment and culture as reasons to put animals through deaths preceded by great torment and suffering. It is notable that some of this support for animals comes from within Spain, in the form of “Torture is not Culture”.

The growing awareness is also in part due to tourists seeing for themselves exactly what the animals go through; in the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, the event does not stop with the “running”, and in fact the bulls are rounded up into an arena and meet a similarly violent and distressing end to the bulls in bullfighting.

The ban of bullfighting has been successful and complete in Catalonia and the Canary Islands, but as yet is limited to these places, as other regions attempt to preserve bullfighting as a tradition. But one of the only things going for bullfighting, in this day and age, is the notion of “tradition”, which is not dissimilar to the tactics used by many countries to boost tourism, and thus the economy.

In this respect, one of the best ways to stop events featuring animal cruelty, such as bullfighting, is not to have any role in it while travelling abroad, even as a spectator, as this involves contributing to suffering, which must sooner rather than later lose its “status” as a national tradition.

UK Has 6 Universities in Top Global Ranking

According to the most recent global table, the UK now has six universities in a top world ranking.

In the World University rankings it has emerged that, unsurprisingly, Oxbridge continues to remain in the top 10 (with graduates from there deemed to be “the world’s most employable”), along with Imperial and UCL, with Edinburgh and King’s College London holding a place in the top 20. In the context of the global ranking, Cambridge holds third place, beaten only by Harvard in second place and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in first place.

The type of subject also has a bearing on an institution’s position in the table; Oxford and Cambridge are the best subjects for seven key subjects, and according to the BBC website, “Oxford came top for English language and literature, philosophy, modern languages and geography in the QS World University Rankings by subject… Cambridge was first for maths, linguistics and history.” So while the UK is evidently the best place in the world for subjects such as English literature and geography, American universities such as MIT are clearly the places to go when it comes to the best education in technology.

However, many academics and educational spokespeople maintain that – with the detrimental effects on UK educational spending brought on by the recession, rising student fees and fewer applicants to university – the UK must increase funding in its education in order to remain at the top of the table.

Given the relative small size of the country, the UK has consistently proven that it can produce graduates whose education is highly valued in the global marketplace; the great influx of foreign students to the UK to seek a British degree is sufficient evidence of its great value.

A spokesperson for the Russell Group – an organisation of prestigious UK universities – has emphasised the importance of keeping the doors to UK higher education open, saying “If our universities are to compete in the future they need the government to provide light-touch regulation and continued investment, and to be welcoming to genuine international students.”. With international fees being several times higher for foreign students than for UK students, this is likely to be a challenge.

A university minister has remained cautiously optimistic about the future of the UK’s position in the world’s university ranking; “Our reforms to undergraduate finance have put universities on a sustainable financial footing and sharpened incentives to deliver a world-class student experience.”

Arrests Over Badger Cull Protests Continue

Four people were arrested early on Tuesday morning during a police operation covering the badger cull protests in Gloucestershire.

The people arrested were two 46-year-old women, a 23-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman, who was suspected to be carrying an “offensive weapon”. They were arrested at around 3.10am and remain in police custody at the time of writing.

These are merely the latest of a series of arrests being made in the Somerset/Gloucestershire since badger culls began there, with “aggravated trespass” being the most common charge. Although police have allegedly attempted to maintain a fair approach towards all participants in the badger protests, their recurring role in these protests indicates the sheer strength of feeling, and division of opinion, when it comes to the badger cull which was commissioned recently.

The main reasoning for the badger cull is that badgers are responsible for spreading bovine TB, although this is highly contested and there are plenty of reports of evidence indicating otherwise. Despite a government petition gaining over 300,000 signatures in the two weeks since the cull began, unfortunately it still looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Above all, the badger cull is widely condemned as being inhumane, with many claiming that many badgers are left alive and in great pain and suffering – leading to many volunteering for a “badger watch”, taking it upon themselves to keep watching and listening for signs of badgers who may be in distress nearby.

An RSPCA representative has remarked upon the sheer inefficiency of this measure being taken to control bovine TB, and how this will ultimately cause widespread animal suffering; “The cattle deserve a long-term sustainable solution to this devastating disease which we believe is vaccination and better biosecurity – and the badgers do not deserve to be sacrificed for no real gain.”

High profile figures such as Queen guitarist Brian May are bringing more attention to the cause and urge the public to keep protesting and condemning the inhumane practice.

Go to http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaigns/wildlife/badgers for more information on the cause.

Modern Book Review: “Bright Young Things” by Scarlett Thomas (2001)

Bright Young Things is the high concept story of a group of young people who respond to an ad for “bright young things” who are wanted “for a big project”, and who all mysteriously wake up in a house on a remote island, with no recollection as to how, or why, they are there.

In Part One we are introduced to the characters one by one. They are – Anne, a girl of a nervous disposition with a sheltered life and not sure of what to do next in life; Jamie, a mathematician who is haunted by numbers and looking for his next challenge (What’s the square root of everything? Nothing.”; Thea, who works in a nursing home and is also become tired with her lot in life; Bryn, a petty drug dealer who does freelance photography; Emily, a “bright young thing” who is conventionally attractive and ends up working for an escort agency; Paul, a vegetarian workaholic who is on the verge of quitting, and for the sheer thrill, is planning on releasing a virus in the near future.

A little is said about how each person came to the point of travelling all the way to Edinburgh for an interview for a job about which they know nothing. At least on the surface, they seem to have little in common, which makes their discovering themselves trapped together in the middle of nowhere all the more bewildering.

Of course, their first instinct is to wonder what could possibly have happened to them, the general consensus being that the interview people drugged them, for whatever reason, and dropped them off here. But as they explore, the house is well stocked with supplies and a sign saying “PLEASE. MAKE YOURSELVES AT HOME”.

However, it is not long until it becomes apparent that, rather than trying to escape immediately, the young people start talking about all the various things they’re into when it comes to “pop culture” (taking place in 1999, many of the pop culture references will perhaps be lost on people of a similar age today). Some – Thea particularly – object to resorting to discussing lowbrow entertainment such as pop music and soap operas, and being sarcastic all the time – indeed most of the time, being ironic is more important than being genuine – but with otherwise such contrasting backgrounds, the “bonding” effect of their conversation is surprising.

The superficiality of their conversation – discussing soap plots for pages at a time – is potentially off-putting, but as the “bonding” goes on into their first night there, the superficial eventually leads into the meaningful, with deep and dark secrets coming out into the open, mostly with the help of a drunken game of “Truth or Dare”.

Events soon take a drastic sinister turn, when they decide to call it a night and stumble back to their beds; one of them goes exploring in the attic and there finds a dead body; someone who, presumably only died a short time ago, and who must have brought them all there in the first place. It is only at this point in the story that they all seriously contemplate how to make an escape, and after a few of them have varying degrees of breakdown, along with more soul-searching, they eventually hatch a plan to build a boat and send the dead body away with a note asking for their rescue. After that, their future is, seemingly, left entirely up to fate.

Bright Young Things is largely built upon inner dialogue, where each character contemplates what’s going on, and outer dialogue, which is itself built largely upon the pop culture – and the trend for self-conscious affectation – of the time. The author, Scarlett Thomas, alludes to this in the introduction, saying that “The characters in Bright Young Things don’t know they are in a book, but they do know that they are in a story”.

Basically, the whole unlikely scenario the young people find themselves in is dealt with by treating it like a random occurrence in everyday life, which each character treats like a “story”. Even if many of the references now seem out of date, its use in aiding the “story” of the young people in this bizarre situation seems more appropriate.

Simply substitute any pop culture reference in the story for a more up-to-date one, and the same idea will still apply; this story can be seen as a satire of modern culture, or simply a survival story, most likely, it is probably meant to be both at the same time.

Lonely Planet Demise?

Travel publisher Lonely Planet has been forced to let go some of its staff, leading to speculation that its future is uncertain.

In a recent article in the Guardian, the company has “shed its editorial staff as part of an overhaul followings its sale by the BBC”, resulting in fans and travellers taking to Twitter to create something of an early eulogy to the Melbourne “home-grown” company, using the hashtag #lpmemories to describe experiences had largely in part to the indispensable travel guide.

From its humble beginnings in the 1970s, Lonely Planet was a pioneering publication in that it encouraged would-be travellers to venture “off the beaten track” and made suggestions as to the best way to get a true taste of the place they were visiting.

Comprised of a small but dedicated team of people with a limited budget and a genuine love of travel and adventure, Lonely Planet sent people – ready, willing and able – to all corners of the globe to experience and soak up the local culture, while writing about it along the way.

Even as the world moved into the digital age, Lonely Planet was not to be left behind and in fact launched its website in 1995 in a bid to achieve what their guidebooks were doing in the context of an online community. Yet it is precisely the recent claim that the new owners of Lonely Planet want to focus less on content creation and more on a “digital strategy”, which is signalling a downturn of the company’s fortune.

Even in the midst of the global recession, there was undeniably a market for travel and adventure, as Lonely Planet reported healthy business in 2008, but book sales have been declining ever since another key indicator of the digital age.

Particularly, the market for travelling “on a shoe-string” ought to have seen business for Lonely Planet increasing – rather than decreasing – over time, but in being forced to let go the very people who invest their own time and energy into gaining a first-hand insight into a previously unknown place, they are losing the “expertise” which has for a long time, made them such a trusted and dependable guide.

With people migrating to sites such as TripAdvisor, who allow literally anyone to write a review regardless of how much experience or knowledge they actually have, it is perhaps inevitable that Lonely Planet would begin to struggle to compete.

Furthermore, the “digital strategy” being proposed by the new owners may not even be a negative thing for the company. The hope, in any case, is that somehow they will be able to retain the personal touch, and words of wisdom for which they have become so well known, as they are moved on into an uncertain future.